Archive for July, 2014

It’s just an intrasquad scrimmage Friday—though with some pretty good talent—to conclude the week of camp for the USA Basketball team (8:00 p.m. CT on ESPN). But it’s going to provide a preview of what looks to be some very highly entertaining basketball.

“I think we’re going to swarm and play fast,” said former Bull Kyle Korver, who will be …

One of Derrick Rose’s best traits, at least for his mental health and state of mind, is his faith. So even after the devastating knee injury in the 2012 playoffs, and then yet another knee injury that required still another surgery and another lost season, Rose didn’t ask why him, didn’t blame anyone, didn’t hide from friends and teammates and …

You could almost hear the rippling of applause, like it was a presidential State of the Union address. Except it was Bulls general manager Gar Forman. And if you could get past the part with Forman wearing shorts, it was somewhat presidential.

The state of the Bulls, as Forman told it Wednesday after USA Basketball practice at UNLV, is sound …

Media members were only allowed in for the last half hour of USA Basketball scrimmages Tuesday in Las Vegas. I watched carefully, and Derrick Rose did appear fast, though not faster than a speeding bullet. He was powerful, though not more so than a speeding locomotive and Rose’s jumping ability seemed untainted, though not quite ready to leap a tall …

There was much anticipation and a festive atmosphere Monday on the UNLV campus for the opening of USA Basketball training camp for the 2014 Basketball World Cup. It was Derrick Rose’s latest return from multiple knee surgeries, and the reviews were spectacular.

Phil Jackson knows greatness. He’s seen it in Pau Gasol, who helped Jackson’s Lakers win two NBA titles. And when Gasol’s career is finished, presumably after this run with the Bulls, Jackson believes there’ll be a place for Gasol among the immortals of the game.

“He will be a Hall of Fame entry after his career,” Jackson wrote me in …

The young coach sits at the end of the Bulls bench in summer league, watching intently, offering a bit but also trying to learn. Coby Karl, the son of veteran NBA coach George Karl, is helping out as a Bulls assistant this summer. But he has much to offer beyond his knowledge of the fundamentals.

Billy Baron isn’t the next Mike Smrek, but he hopes to at least get the chance Smrek did.

Smrek, a seven-footer, played one season for the Bulls in 1985-86 as a rookie and was the last player from Canisius College to play in the NBA. Baron, who is playing for the Bulls summer league team, hopes to be the next.…

Since Carlos Boozer was signed by Chicago as a free agent in 2010, statistically one of the most successful free agent acquisitions in franchise history, the Bulls were just one of four NBA teams to win at least 200 games. The others were the Spurs and Heat, who won three of the four championships, and the Thunder, who went to …